The U.S. section of the International Boundary and Water Commission is going to host a residents forum from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Tijuana Estuary meeting room, 301 Caspian Way, Imperial Beach.

Among the topics to be discussed will be sediment, trash and sanitation in the Tijuana River Valley. The agency’s officials are also going to bring up the topic of new strategies and improvements to take place at the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Ysidro, which filters and cleans wastewater from Tijuana. The improvement is about one third of the way done. 

The forum is aimed at residents who want to learn for about the commission’s projects in the San Diego border area.

For more information, dial (915) 832-4175.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders wrote a letter to the Metropolitan Water District stating he was against the regional agency’s proposal to increase pension benefits.

The mayor brought attention in his letter to the fact that the agency is increasing the prices paid for water by double digits, which in turn has a direct impact on consumers in Southern California and in San Diego.

The board of the MWD has a meeting on Tuesday to take a vote on the matter and decide whether to  increase pension benefits that would effect about 2,000 workers and come to cost about $70 million as it accumulates over time.

“The City of San Diego is a net importer of water and as such continues to rely on MWD for a significant portion of its water supply. Any increase in costs at MWD translates into an increase in water rates for San Diegans,” Sanders letter stated. 

San Diego County has four representatives of the district’s 37-member board.

The Encinitas City Council declared that the city does not need to have a certain law that states the city’s dedication to having an open government.  

The council conducted a meeting last week and decided in a vote of 4-1, with Councilwoman Teresa Barth not in favor, to not continue to embrace what is known as a “sunshine ordinance.” A couple members reported that the city has surpassed the requirements of the state’s open-government laws by putting records online, including campaign finance records.

Barth stated that she was unhappy with the outcome, and said that the ordinance would have promoted  “a culture of open and transparent governance.”

Councilman Jerome Stocks stated, “Nobody saw a reason to actually create an ordinance to describe what we’re already doing anyway.”

There are currently no cities in San Diego County that have a sunshine ordinance, a staff report revealed.  Benicia, Milpitas, Oakland, Riverside, San Francisco and Vallejo are the six Californian cities that have embraced open-government ordinances.